About Me

My mother was murdered by what I call corporate and political homicide i.e. FOR PROFIT! she died from a rare phenotype of CJD i.e. the Heidenhain Variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease i.e. sporadic, simply meaning from unknown route and source. I have simply been trying to validate her death DOD 12/14/97 with the truth. There is a route, and there is a source. There are many here in the USA. WE must make CJD and all human TSE, of all age groups 'reportable' Nationally and Internationally, with a written CJD questionnaire asking real questions pertaining to route and source of this agent. Friendly fire has the potential to play a huge role in the continued transmission of this agent via the medical, dental, and surgical arena. We must not flounder any longer. ...TSS

Affiliations: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Bloomberg School
of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
of America, Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Abstract

Objectives Administration of antibiotics to food animals may select for
drug-resistant pathogens of clinical significance, such as methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In the United States, studies have examined
prevalence of MRSA carriage among individuals exposed to livestock, but
prevalence of multidrug-resistant S. aureus (MDRSA) carriage and the association
with livestock raised with versus without antibiotic selective pressure remains
unclear. We aimed to examine prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility, and
molecular characteristics of S. aureus among industrial livestock operation
(ILO) and antibiotic-free livestock operation (AFLO) workers and household
members in North Carolina.

Methods Participants in this cross-sectional study were interviewed and
provided a nasal swab for S. aureus analysis. Resulting S. aureus isolates were
assessed for antibiotic susceptibility, multi-locus sequence type, and absence
of the scn gene (a marker of livestock association).

Conclusions Despite similar S. aureus and MRSA prevalence among ILO and
AFLO-exposed individuals, livestock-associated MRSA and MDRSA
(tetracycline-resistant, CC398, scn-negative) were only present among
ILO-exposed individuals. These findings support growing concern about
antibiotics use and confinement in livestock production, raising questions about
the potential for occupational exposure to an opportunistic and drug-resistant
pathogen, which in other settings including hospitals and the community is of
broad public health importance.

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The results reported here show that the proportion of S. aureus identified
as MDRSA and the proportion exhibiting phenotypic and molecular markers of
livestock association was elevated among individuals exposed to the ILO
environment compared to those exposed to the AFLO environment. Carriage of
scn-negative MRSA CC398 and scn-negative MDRSA CC398 was limited to individuals
with direct exposure to ILO production – all of these isolates were also
resistant to tetracycline. Whether or not these livestock-associated S. aureus
strains (including MRSA and MDRSA) pose a health risk to workers and the broader
public requires further investigation. Overall, our findings support growing
concern about antibiotic use and confinement in livestock production, and raise
questions about the potential for occupational exposure to an opportunistic and
drug-resistant pathogen which in other settings including hospitals and the
community is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States [4],
[61] and globally [6], [7].

Funding: Funding for this study was provided by the North Carolina
Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, North Carolina Occupational
Safety and Health Education and Research Center, the W.K. Kellogg Health
Scholars Program – Community Track, and a Gillings Innovation Laboratory award
from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. CDH was supported by the
W.K. Kellogg Health Scholars Program – Community Track, JLR by the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS; award no. T32ES007018), and
MN by a Royster Society fellowship and an EPA Science to Achieve Results
fellowship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and
analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: SW provided pro bono testimony in legal proceedings
related to landfills and provided pro bono consultation on radiation and health
for two law firms that made gifts to the University of North Carolina and
another law firm that did not make a gift to the University of North Carolina.
He conducted research on epidemiologic investigation of symptoms reported by
neighbors of areas where sewage sludge is applied to land funded by the Water
Environment Research Foundation. This does not alter the authors' adherence to
all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.